The Heart of the Team

Chapter 28

The next month or so passed quickly with various halloween parties and class projects that were actually fun, and soon it seemed the world managed to skip all the way to Thanksgiving.

The usual dinner party which was normally a very large event was very subdued due to the move so it ended up being Mom, Dad, a few of their work friends, the neighbours and about half of the sandlot kids.

At 5:30 the night of the party, just as I had finished getting ready there was a knock at the door and then suddenly Quinn, Millie, Smalls, Benny, Aelius and Yeah-Yeah flooded into the house, followed by their parents.

I rushed down the stairs and half pressed a kiss to Aelius' cheek before moving on and hugging Maria who had already passed the tray she was carrying onto Benny to be able to hug me.

"Uh, right, kids table is in the living room, adults in the dining room, food is being left in the kitchen for now!" Alexander yelled.

The next half hour flew by in a blur and then suddenly I was sitting next to Aelius at the kids table, laughing with the others as Alexander was banished to sit with us.

"I'm in college! That's adult age!" He'd protested.

Most of the evening then went at such a speed I could barely seem to comprehend until some of us were sat out

I sighed and let my head fall back against Aelius' shoulder, fiddling with the sleeves of the sweater I'd apparently pulled on over my dress at some point.

"You okay?" He murmured.

"Overwhelmed." I nestled back against him. 

For what seemed like a long while I stared up at the stars, enjoying the warmth from Aleius pressed up against me, watching the vapor from our breath curling up to the sky.

At some point Maria called us back inside for dessert, and soon enough all the kids were back around the table, eating pies and other desserts.

In what seemed like the blink of an eye everyone was saying goodbye and Aelius was shifting to look at me, "Are you sure you're okay?"

I hummed softly, "Probably."

He sighed and stood up, disappearing somewhere else in the house, while I stayed on the couch, trying not to notice the strange closeness between Millie and Quinn.

A few moments later he returned, Mom following behind, she felt my forehead and sighed, "Why didn't you tell me you don't feel well?"

"I'm fine." I protested, moving her hand away.

"No you're not, I told you she was being weird earlier." Millie called from her spot on the other couch.

"Shut up, I'm fine!" I said, pushing up to stand.

Aelius wrapped an arm around my waist, "You look like you're about to pass out."

"I'm fine!"

It was only as she was coming back that I realized Mom had disappeared and come back with a glass of water and assortment of pills.

I groaned, taking them from her and actually taking them, glugging down most of the water.

"Right, bed, come on." She said, grabbing my arm and pulling me away from Aelius.

I kissed his cheek before reluctantly following her upstairs.

As she pushed me into the bedroom and threw my pajamas at me she started lecturing me on telling  people if I don't feel good.

"I'm fine, mom!"

"Just go to sleep, if you aren't feeling better tomorrow we're going to the hospital again."

I sighed and lied down, "Fine. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

She left, and I stayed, curled up under my comforter, staring at the wall for a while until I fell asleep.

I spent most of the next day curled up on the couch watching old movies and rereading books.

Around 4 in the afternoon I had been contemplating reading the Great Gatsby again, when the front door opened.

I sat up a peaked over the top of the couch to see Alexander, pulling off his coat, "Hey Lizabeth, look what I found!" He called, shoving Aelius towards the living room.

"Hey Eliza!" He smiled.

"What are you doing here? I'm gonna get you sick."

"No you're not." He said, moving around the couch to sit next to me.

"Yeah I am, I don't want you to get sick." I sniffed.

"Shhhh, it's fine." Aelius half whispered, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me closer to him.

I chuckled, "When you end up sick, I get to say I told you so."

So, we spent the rest of the day, cuddled together, watching old episodes of the twilight zone.

Hey!
This got out way faster than I originally thought.
So I've never really explained this but my updating schedule for this is set where I release a new chapter after I finish the one that's two chapters ahead.
My original thinking was that if it was ever taking me that long to get something done I would still have something to post, but this means that on my end I just finished chapter 30 which means......
Only an epilogue to go!
But y'all have to wait for that one.